


Give your warmth freely

by WahlBuilder



Series: Scarves and Mittens [3]
Category: Dishonored (Video Game)
Genre: Fugue Feast, Fugue Feast Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-15
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-03-01 15:46:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2778770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WahlBuilder/pseuds/WahlBuilder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Corvo walks the streets of Dunwall, musing on events, and then notices a shadow on a nearby roof.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give your warmth freely

**Author's Note:**

> With mentions of Daud/Teague Martin.

The Fugue Feast was in its full debauched glory. People were desperate to forget the horrors of the Plague that had been dominating the streets not so long ago and the turmoil of the interregnum. As if indicating a new, fresh start, the air was unusually chill, snow falling from the sky and making grim streets of Dunwall seem clean.

Emily — the Empress — had convinced Corvo to leave the Tower and unwind on the streets, even though the Feast was loud and bright in the Tower itself, its gates open for the people once again, as it should be.

The Royal Spymaster and the High Overseer — Daud and Martin, that is, — had endured the official banquet but as the proper smiles had been given and the proper words had been said, they quickly retreated somewhere deep into the Tower, Martin whispering into Daud’s ear, quirking lips too close to the Spymaster’s face.

Corvo chuckled to himself at the memory of Daud’s stone face that could hide nothing.

He saw that for the former assassin it was still difficult to be polite around aristocrats and keep himself from punching the blunt truth in their faces, and honestly, Corvo shared the feeling. He saw that Daud was more comfortable going into the city at nights, patrolling the roofs, just as much as the High Overseer was obviously more comfortable going on late-night patrols with the assassin than playing political games on thick carpets of the Dunwall Tower. Never mind that Martin was tremendously good at these games and Daud was surprisingly good at fake-smiling and polite handshaking.

Strange, how it had turned out in the end, the man who had killed his Empress was now the one whom Corvo trusted to keep the new Empress safe, and the man who had conspired against the former Regent and then nearly killed Corvo, was the one whom Corvo trusted to keep the Empire itself safe, and the new High Overseer could play Gristol aristocrats and politicians of the Empire and bend them to the good of the Empire. Not without his flaws, Martin actually believed in common good and had been doing his best to ensure it and to rebuilt Dunwall to its glory.

Corvo was genuinely glad to have the most brilliant and dangerous men of the Empire at Emily’s side. Moreover, Daud had trained his Whalers well, and they were getting along with Emily, spoiling her to no end, and he should talk to Daud about sweets and snacks they had sneaked onto her table more than once during her lessons, but he could trust them with her safety tonight.

He wasn’t planning on actual participating in any festivities, he just wanted to roam the streets aimlessly, drink in the voices and lights and sounds, listen to songs instead of cries and pleas, smell spices instead of blood.

It was good to be alive, and he felt at ease.

He wrapped the big fluffy scarf that Emily had insisted on giving him tighter around his neck and exhaled into the chill air, his breath becoming a white cloud, and he watched it disappear, amused by its form that resembled a whale, and he found himself musing on the Outsider. The being had seemed pleased when everything had ended, when Corvo rescued Emily from the lighthouse, and then he had appeared one more time, when Martin and Daud had been officially forgiven and invited to take place of the High Overseer and the Royal Spymaster. The Outsider seemed to be amused by this decision, but he hadn’t even visited Corvo’s dreams since that time, though he hadn’t taken away his Mark, neither from Corvo nor from Daud. (And how could something go between Martin and Daud was beyond Corvo’s understanding, the former being a truly devoted Overseer and the latter being a full-blown heretic).

Corvo turned around the corner into an alley, all reminders of the Plague gone, barricades pulled down, lamps with candles taking the place of searchlights, garlands and colourful ribbons framing the windows, tables on the streets groaning with foods and drinks, the city indulging itself in overeating after horrible months of hunger and fear.

Corvo picked up a golden pear when a shadow caught his eye, a familiar figure on the edge of a nearby roof. He shook his head. Maybe he was imagining things, maybe the wine he had consumed during the dinner had finally gone to his head, but he had to be sure, he had to make sure this was not a threat. He glanced around himself, but a few people that were in the alley had been too engrossed in their food and drinks and each other to notice anything.

Corvo went to a blind-alley, biting into his pear, got onto a ventilator and then pulled himself up onto the roof, tiles squeaking under his gloved hands. He eyed his surroundings and at first he didn’t see anything, the darkness on the roof deepened by the lights of the streets and fireworks cracking in the sky, but then he finally saw.

The figure.

The shadow.

The god.

He was sitting on the edge of the roof, long legs dangling in the air, as if he was a child who couldn’t sit still. He looked… oddly human, mundane even, not a flicker of otherworldly darkness swirling near him.

Corvo approached him gingerly, then got down near him and risked to glance in the direction the Outsider was watching. Below them the street was alive with lights and people, their voices and kisses and touches bouncing from wall to wall, songs blooming abruptly into life and then fading just as quickly, drowning in laughter. Masks were roaming around, grotesque, beautiful, colours and fabrics and feathers of all kinds, and Corvo thought he saw an Overseer’s mask, a real one, but Overseers were Martin’s concern, and besides, who could judge them when the High Overseer himself was spending the night with one of the two most heretical heretics in the whole Empire. Who could judge them during the Fugue Feast.

Corvo turned his attention to the Outsider. His eyes were trained on the street, watching, blinking from time to time, the pale face unreadable. He was in his usual jacket, hands with wide rings resting on his lap, and Corvo shuddered from the chill air, and then he had a thought and decided to act on it while he was bold enough to do it.

He took off his scarf and gently wrapped it around the Outsider’s neck and shoulders, shooing away the sensation of perfectly ordinary, human flesh and bone under his touches, a faint smell of sea teasing his nostrils. Sea and spice and wine, he noted with surprise.

The being turned to him, his black eyes like pits of shadows, flowers of fireworks blooming in them, and Corvo thought of endless emptiness of the Void and whale songs that could shatter any beating heart and his own lonely nights, first, on thin mattress and now, on soft sheets, and he ducked his head, feeling hot and childish, and murmured, ‘It’s rather cold tonight.’

A long silence cloaked him in the darkness, and then the being beside him — a god, a mighty Leviathan of unseen depths — rested his head on Corvo’s shoulder. ‘No, it’s not, Corvo. Not anymore.’

He dared not to move for a few breaths, fearing that the being was just a shadow from a dream, that he was drunk and seeing things, but the Outsider felt solid and real, and Corvo relaxed and made himself comfortable and watched the Fugue Feast, its laughs and smells and songs washing at his feet like sea waves.

**Author's Note:**

> With the [art](http://pineapplentoart.tumblr.com/post/113730716246/illustration-to-the-fic-give-your-warmth) by my amazing friend!


End file.
